Memín Pinguín

A popular Mexican comic book being sold at Wal-Marts in the U.S. was causing outrage before being taken off the shelves. Memín Pinguín is a fictional character from Mexico. Stories featuring him, a very poor Cuban-Mexican boy, first appeared in the 1940s and have remained in print ever since. The Memin character is intended to be Cuban but reinforces all the dark-skinned stereotypes once thought to be strictly reserved for white supremacists.

Historically, the character has been hugely popular on newsstands in Mexico and Latin American nations, with sales in the millions. The character first spurred debate in 2005 when the Mexican government issued a stamp commemorating Memin. At the time, many U.S. activists and political figures called the character racist.

The Mexican government protested the characterizations, asserting that Americans simply do not understand Memin’s cultural significance in Mexico. That debate spurred the publisher to re-issue the old comics in a collector’s series that are available for purchase in the United States as, well as Mexico.

In addition to Mexico, Memín remains a popular magazine in Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Panama, Colombia, the Philippines and other countries. At its peak, it boasted a weekly circulation of one and a half million issues in Mexico and as of mid-2005 it sold over 100,000 issues a week.

Even in the eyes of the Hispanics, it's acceptable for the children and mothers of Afro decent to be portrayed as "picaninnies" and "mammies". I looked up Memín Pinguín on Youtube because I saw part of a news video and I was sure someone had uploaded the video to Youtube. I found responses about Memín like this..

"I can't believe that somebody could be ofended Memin Penguin! my G...!!! I am from the caribean and there we do not pay attention to something like this, we call each other negro, meaning honey, baby or something like that, and in the caribean not everybody is black, we have all colors there, anyways, Why black people in this country are so so so so vulnerable to their color? I love Memin and this character is very very funny and tender!"

"If us Mexicans got offended and scandalized everytime we got depicted with donkeys and sombreros we wouldn't have any rest. These blacks need to relax a bit"

I googled Memim and read an article called "The Pride In Memin Pinguin" written by Enrique Krauze in which he states,

"To Americans, the figure, with his exaggerated "African" features, appears to be a copy of racist American cartoons. To Mexicans, he is a thoroughly likable character, rich in sparkling wisecracks, and is felt to represent not any sense of racial discrimination but rather the egalitarian possibility that all groups can live together in peace. During the 1970s and '80s, his historietas sold over a million and a half copies because they touched an authentic chord of sympathy and tenderness among poorer people, who identified with Memin Pinguin."

I am not debating the fact that he is a "thoroughly likable character" in Mexican history. What I take offense with is the fact that everyone else in the comic book series are portrayed normally but the main character is portrayed in offensively racist caricature or is this how hispanics actually view people with Afro ancestry. Talk to me.